The Beginning of the End
by LadyKahlan
Summary: An Animorphs story about two young Andalites who join our favorite teenage heroes on their quest to take down the Yeerks. I will be posting 14 chapters over the next few days!
1. Chapter 1: Obony and Alanna

**A/N: My best friend and I wrote this fan fiction in the height of our Animorphs obsession about 10 years ago. We wrote a lot, but the story was never finished. But please feel free to read and let me know what you think!**

_This is a fan-fiction based on the books by K.A. Applegate, namely the Animorphs series. We don't claim to owm any of K. A. Applegate's work. . . In this series, five teenagers find a dying Andalite prince. They find him and he gives them the power to morph. That is, to change into any animal they touch. He tells them to fight a parasitic species called Yeerks. Yeerks look like slugs, and they crawl into a person's brain through the ear canal. There, they take total control of the body._

_Anyway, the teenagers find another Andalite at the bottom of the sea, named Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. Since then they have seen no Andalites on Earth except for traitors. _

_Until now. . ._

_**Obony**_

We ran through the grass, my friend and I. I had my hooves open to the lush _Imsa _ growth.

‹I am glad we have the opportunity to come here, to Theed,› said my friend Alanna. Her full name is Alanna-Sarrasri-Iskiria. My full name is Obony-Machelle-Sirima.

‹Yes,› I agreed. ‹It is a lucky twist of fate that our parents had to meet with the Electorate. Together.›

‹Very lucky indeed.›

‹Yes.›

We slowed our pace and trotted in silence for a while. I do not know what Alanna was thinking. I am not like the amphibious species, the Leerans, that have the ability to read minds. I know what I was thinking. I was wondering what could have happened that was so extreme my parents had to speak to the Electorate in person.

Oh well. It is not for me to know, my mother always says. Not for me to know, as I am only a child.

‹I am only a child and knowledge is the responsibility of the adults.›

‹What?› Alanna asked.

‹Oh. . .nothing.› I had not realized I had said it aloud.

‹My mother says the same thing,› she supplied. ‹I get tired of hearing the old Andalite proverbs over and over. If knowledge is the responsibility of the adults, why must we go to school?›

‹I find _Sario Rips_ interesting.› I was mulling over various things in my mind,

not concentrating too much on my conversation with Alanna.

‹Really?› She laughed. ‹And _I_ find plintconarhythmic equations interesting. Lighten up, Obony. You know, I must admit that I tend to feel drowsy during physics.›

‹I don't care anymore. We can change the subject now.›

‹Okay. I wonder-›

I started my sentence at almost the same time as Alanna. ‹I wonder why our parents must see the Electorate. It is an enormous honor to see them in person. Something extreme must have happened.›

‹Ah. Is that why you were out of focus when I was talking to you before?›

‹Yes.› I turned my stalk eyes on her. ‹I will ask my mother tonight.›

_**Alanna**_

The next morning Obony rushed to the quarters I was sharing with my parents.

‹I have asked my mother about our visit here! After a while of debating with my father, she decided to tell me. Since all the warriors have gone to fight at _Rakkam Garoo_ there is no one to respond to Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill's urgent plea for help at the planet Earth. He is the brother of Elfangor-›

‹I know!› I said with impatience in my thought speech. ‹What of it?›

‹As I was saying, since there is no one to respond to Aximili's plea, two of our people are needed to go and survey the situation. Since the Andalites left on our planet are either scientists or _arisths_, two _arisths_ are needed to fulfill the mission. And they have chosen-›

‹Us!›

‹Yes, we need to decide whether to accept it by tonight.›

‹Well, tell them the answer is YES! This is the chance of a lifetime for us!› I could barely control my excitement.

We were to leave the next day. Obony and I were giddy all the next morning, until it was finally time to lift off in our small fighter. I said a teary but happy goodbye to my parents. Obony did the same.

‹Be careful,› my always-protective mother said, ‹and good luck!›

My father gave me the special Andalite smile - with his eyes. That was all I needed to see to know that all four of their hearts went with me.

After the goodbyes, Obony and I climbed on the fighter, I was going to pilot it, and Obony was going to be the gunner and navigator. We took our positions and I lifted the fighter of the grassy lands off our world. Little did I know that this was going to be my last glimpse of it for a long while.


	2. Chapter 2: Cassie

_**Cassie **_

The others and I were in the barn,discussing how to do the next mission. Jake was planning on helping the free Hork-Bajir with their next raid on the Yeerk pool. As we sat, I put in things I thought would help. But I admired the way Jake controlled the meeting. We had chosen a good leader. I smiled. He is so cute. I like Jake. As in, _like_. Anyway.

"So basically we do birds of prey and fly to the valley. From there we just do what Toby says, and maybe give them some ideas. I figure us 'Andalite bandits' know Visser Three almost as well as Chapman."

Chapman is one of the top-ranking Controllers. He is also the vice principal of our school.

Tobias ruffled his wings up in the rafters. ‹Toby said they have a few new Hork-Bajir.› He laughed. ‹Sometimes I feel like a preschooler around Toby.›

Toby Hamee is a free Hork-Bajir. She is what they call a seer. A seer is a Hork-Bajir who is intellectually very advanced. Talking to most Hork-Bajir can be like talking to a four or five-year-old. But not Toby. Toby is college-level, human. Toby is also named for Tobias, who rescued the two Hork-Bajir who started the colony, Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak.

"Excuse me? Fearless Leader?" Marco asked.

"What?" said Jake.

"I am so not going to do whatever a Hork-Bajir says. I mean, how old is Toby? Three months old? And she's smarter than me. Huh-uh. I don't think so."

"Marco," Jake said with warning in his voice, "let's just go with the plan. We need a mission where we can hurt the Yeerks but don't have to make so many decisions."

I knew what Jake was thinking about. The others - Rachel, Jake, Ax, Marco, Tobias - all say that I can understand people. That sometimes I can almost read their minds. I don't know, maybe, but I _do_ know what Jake was thinking about. Sometimes, when we go on really hard missions, Jake has to make decisions that may either get one of us killed or all of us. It must be really hard.

"So let's do-" Rachel started, but Marco cut her off.

He threw up his hands. "Here we go again. But I guess you have to say it, Xena."

Rachel was frowning at Marco. "Thank you. Now, let's do it!"

No mission can start without Rachel saying that. We were going, whether Marco liked it or not.


	3. Chapter 3: Obony

_**Obony**_

I don't know how I stayed calm. Yes, I was excited. Yes, I did some strange things during the day. But you can't really blame me. We were going to Earth! And we would see the brother of Warrior-Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. _The former War-Prince_, I reminded myself. Elfangor had gotten wounded in battle, and was murdered by Visser Three. I was quiet as I packed the holograms of Earth I would need. I was quiet as I charged up the mini-hologram of my parents. But I exploded during the morning ritual.

It wasn't my fault, really. At least I don't believe it was. But as we were putting one hoof in the water, I said, ‹I wonder if there will be water like this on Earth. Maybe we shall discover a new way to clean water with Earth chemicals and we will be famous!›

My father glared at me. I might as well have broken _Seerow's Kindness. _

‹Sorry,› I said. And we went the rest of the day without event, although my mother was constantly checking my things to make sure I had emergency oxygen hoods, the hologram of her, and emergency rations of grass. ‹In case the grass is toxic, dear.›

‹Mother!› I turned to her. ‹If the grass was toxic would Aximili still be alive to send us the message?›

‹Oh. No, I guess not, but what if the ship failed and you were stranded on some other planet where there _was_ toxic grass?›

It never fails. My mother, I mean, and her constant worrying about me. The ship never fails either. I mentioned this to her.

I lifted my pack and walked through the door to Alanna's quarters. She was packing like me, though, unlike me, her mother was not hovering behind her.

‹Lucky,› I muttered.

‹What did you say?› she asked.

‹Oh. . .nothing.› I sighed. ‹My mother was right behind me when I was packing. I was just saying that you were lucky not to be burdened with your mother.›

‹My mother is not a burden.› She looked at me strangely.

I sighed again and set my pack down. ‹You know what I mean, Alanna.›

Just then my father walked into Alanna's room. ‹Your mother has told me to tell you that you both are to go to the Electorate before you leave.›

I rolled my eyes at Alanna. ‹See what I mean?› I said in private thought-speak. Then, to my father, I said, ‹Thank you. We will leave for the capital building in twenty-four Earth minutes.›

My father laughed. ‹Earth minutes? _Earth minutes? _Since when do we do things 'in Earth minutes', Obony?›

‹It's because we're going to Earth,› I explained. ‹We are going to be doing things there in Earth minutes, and it will be good practice for me to become accustomed to Earth time.›

‹Ah.› My father left the room. Alanna was staring at me.

‹I never thought of practicing Earth time,› she said. ‹I will pack an adjustor for the ship's clock so that we may change it to Earth minutes as we enter their atmosphere.›

‹That will be good,› I told her. Then I walked out to inspect our fighter.

_Later_

I stood in my position at the controls for the gunner and navigator. I was not so much using the gunner controls as the navigator ones, except for when we came near to asteroids and we needed to get them out of the way.

When we were flying quietly due toward Earth, I relaxed and looked at Alanna. ‹I wonder why we have been given a fighter. Most of our ships have guns to shoot the asteroids, but a fighter? A fighter is, well, for fighting.›

She nodded. I do not know why, as nodding is an Earth custom, I believe. ‹Maybe they think we will run into Yeerks, or Skrit Na, or Ongachic. I would not mind fighting Skrit Na or Ongachic, but we are not prepared for Yeerks.›

‹True.› I resumed my position as the radar picked up something moving toward us.


	4. Chapter 4: Tobias

_**Tobias**_

It was supposed to be a simple mission, although I don't know how you can call a trip to the nightmarish Yeerk pool simple. In and out with little or no fatalities.

We might have suspected a trap, but we did not expect what we did find.

Getting to the Yeerk pool was fairly easy this time. After I talked to Toby, we decided on going in the Hork-Bajir way which was devoid of human-Controllers. That meant that we all had to go Hork-Bajir.

I landed, focusing on the tall, bladed form of a Hork-Bajir. My tail came first, swooshing out to suddenly end with a blade, much like an Andalite's, and then my beak grew. Because a Hork-Bajir pretty much has a beak too, all mine did was get bigger and change colour. Then my feathers lost their dimension and faded into the hard Hork-Bajir flesh. My eyes grew larger and moved a bit. It didn't hurt; the Andalite technology was very advanced. The sounds, however, were enough to make your stomach turn. Mine would have, had my insides not been shifting size, shape and position. My bones filled out, and then the morph was done.

After morphing we entered the Yeerk facility and headed down the steps to the hideous moans and cries of free Controllers. Free for the time being, that is. The sight when we got to the main pool was not a nice one. A Bug fighter had just landed and stepping out of it were two young female Andalites. I would not have been able to tell they were female had it not been for Ax's cry.

‹Female Andalites!›

‹You don't say.› That was Marco, of course.

‹We have to save them!› Cassie cried. ‹They're going to be infested!›

None of us asked how she knew, but we knew that what she said was soon to become reality.

Hork-Bajir Controllers held Dracon beams to the Andalites' heads. They both looked immensely frightened, but I knew that they would die before becoming Controllers.

We rushed to the infesting pier, but I could tell we would not make it in time. No one stopped us - we looked to be Hork-Bajir Controllers doing our job. The Andalites had reached the pier, but the Hork-Bajir were not forcing their heads into the slimy Yeerk pool - not yet.

‹They're waiting for Visser Three!› I realized.

Just then another Bug fighter landed. Visser Three stepped out.

‹At last we have more Andalites to make into our people!› His thought speech voice boomed loudly. Ax stiffened at the thought of two more Andalite-Controllers.

Finally we had reached the pier. ‹NOW!› Jake shouted. We threw ourselves at the Hork-Bajir holding the Andalites captive. Once they were freed, the Andalites morphed - I didn't know what it was they morphed, but it was something big and bad. Visser Three also morphed. Unfortunately for him, he was on the other side of the Yeerk pool and could not reach us in time to stop us from escaping.

‹After them!› he shouted. ‹I will have your heads if they escape!›

Lucky for us, we were in Hork-Bajir morph and could not be distinguished from the Hork-Bajir Controllers. We raced outside, the sunshine blaring in our eyes. The Hork-Bajir Controllers raced after us into a forest - they thought we were in pursuit of the Andalites. But, we were not, of course, as the Andalites had gone with Toby to the Hork-Bajir colony. After some quick thought speech explaining, Ax had convinced them to go to the colony and wait for us. We continued racing through the forest to a trap the Hork-Bajir had set up to catch the Controllers. They would leave them there for three days - until the Yeerks in their heads had died from lack of Kandrona rays. After posting guards, we continued on to the Hork-Bajir colony.


	5. Chapter 5: Alanna and Obony

_**Alanna**_

They took us from behind - five Bug fighters. We had not been expecting attack, but now Obony and I knew why we had been given a fighter.

‹There are too many of them!› Obony shouted.

‹I know, hold on!› I maneuvered our fighter away from the Bug fighters.

Our efforts were in vain. Obony managed to down two Bug fighters, but that still left three, and we were both running out of moves. I heard a screeching sound.

‹Oh, no!› Obony said. ‹One of them sneaked up from behind and is docking with us!›

It was too late, we had just given the Yeerks two more Andalites to infest.

‹Quick, the self-destruct!›

‹It's too late.› I said, looking down at the controls. ‹It would take 5 Earth minutes, not enough before the Yeerks would have us!›

‹Put it on anyway!› Obony shouted.

‹I have.›

‹We'll just have to do it ourselves then.›

I didn't ask what she meant. I knew. There were two small shredders in a little compartment in the cockpit. We couldn't let the Yeerks have two more Andalite-Controllers.

We performed the Ritual of Death and Self-Sacrifice. Obony and I shared smiles. Then everything went black.

_Later_

I woke up to see a gigantic Yeek pool. We had failed, the Yeerks had captured us before we could kill ourselves. A Hork-Bajir was holding a Dracon beam to my head. Set to stun, so we could still be infested. That must have been how they captured us to begin with.

‹What now?› Obony asked.

‹I don't know› I answered, ‹but as Elfangor said, HOPE!›

The Hork-Bajir dragged us to what must have been the infesting pier. That was when I heard a thought speech voice say, ‹Female Andalites!› It was not the voice of Visser Three. Who could it be? Aximili? I sure hoped so.

_**Obony**_

After the Hork-Bajir renegades rescued us, we were taken to a valley, where it seemed there were many renegades. Alanna and I demorphed. The young Hork-Bajir who had led Alanna and myself looked at us solemnly.

"I am Toby Hamee. I am a seer. These are my parents." She motioned to two full-grown Hork-Bajir. "Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak."

I nudged Alanna with my elbow. ‹The girl is a seer!›

She looked at me with one stalk eye. ‹Yes.›

We both watched then as six more Hork-Bajir crashed through some bushes. They spoke rapidly to Toby, who was smiling and nodding slowly. Then Toby, her parents, and other Hork-Bajir formed a circle around the six new ones. Faintly, ever so faintly, I could hear a slight _cruuunnch._ It was familiar - the sound of morphing. I looked at Alanna, my eyes bright.

‹Perhaps Aximili is with the renegade Hork-Bajir!›

Alanna looked thoughful. ‹In history, we were told that all Hork-Bajir were either infested or killed by the Quantum virus on their home world. This is news for the Electorate.›

She was right! ‹Aximili must have helped to save them! He is a hero as well as self-sacrificial,› I whispered in glee.

‹I believe you may have feelings for this _aristh_, Obony. Am I right?›

I kicked my hoof impatiently. ‹No! Don't you see? If we bring him back he may be made a War-Prince! We will have reinforcements to come wipe out the Yeerks here on Earth!›

Finally, she got it. ‹I see! What an idea, Obony!›

I grinned smugly.

Then something was happening. The Hork-Bajir broke their ring around the others. Standing there were four humans. Humans!

‹Humans!› I whispered urgently. ‹They must be Controllers!› I reached for my shredder, but it was not where I had put it. The Hork-Bajir Controllers must have disarmed us for infestation.

Also with the humans was a small Earth bird, and. . . .an Andalite! A male!

‹Why does he not put an end to these human-Controllers?› Alanna hissed.

The Andalite saw us glancing at each other and stepped forward. ‹Please,

young females, do not be alarmed. I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, and-›

I shot a look at Alanna. ‹Told you!›

‹-and these are my friends. This is my prince. Prince Jake,› continued Aximili. One of the humans shuffled its feet. "Hi."

Aximili said something privately to the human Prince Jake. Then he spoke to us again. ‹These are two female humans, Cassie and Rachel.›

Two more looked up. The one with golden hair twisted its - her? - face into what I believe was an expression of anger. ‹Sorry,› apologized Aximili. For what I do not know. ‹And this is Marco. He usually says things that are synonymous with something called humor. Human humor. I will explain human humor to you should you decide to stay.›

An unruly looking human swung his hands and glanced at us. "Hey, you two. I'm Marco and by 'human' terms I am unbearably cute. I also-"

"Shut up, you bimbo!" yelped the golden-haired female.

"Fine, fine," muttered Marco-the-bimbo.

‹Oh dear. I am sorry, my human friend Marco can cause trouble sometimes. Anyway, this,› Aximili finally pointed at the bird, ‹is my friend Tobias. Tobias is Elfangor's son and so is my nephew.›

Alanna spoke up. ‹Why is he not in Andalite form, then?›

A look of embarrassment flushed Aximili's face. ‹He is a _nothlit._›

A _nothlit_! I drew in a sharp breath. Aximili continued, ‹Tobias is Elfangor's son. But he has a human mother. Elfangor was in human morph when Tobias was conceived. Tobias is Andalite by heritage, human by birth, and bird in form.›

‹Oh. That is too bad, then. I extend my sympathies to you, _aristh _Tobias.›

The one Aximili had called Prince Jake stepped forward. "And who are you two?"

I looked at Alanna, then began. ‹I am Obony-Machelle-Sirima. This is my friend Alanna-Sarrasri-Iskiria. We have come to answer the plea for help sent by Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.›

"Cool," said the human I now thought of as Prince Jake. "Help. Okay then, ladies, if you're here to help, come with us."

With the knowledge that Alanna would support me, I followed the humans through the woods.


	6. Chapter 6: Rachel, Jake and Tobias

_**Rachel**_

We said good-bye to the free Hork-Bajir and left. I was still a little steamed that Ax had called Cassie and me 'human females', but I wasn't going to make a scene. Marco, on the other hand. . . .

Never mind. It would make me mad thinking about it. So I didn't. We walked in silence back to Cassie's house.

"I just hope my parents aren't home," she whispered fervently.

They weren't. We slipped into the barn and assumed our normal positions. Marco slumped into a bale of hay, Jake sat in front, and Cassie and I took care of the animals. Ax stood to the side, talking about something with the new Andalites.

Marco sighed loudly and thumped his stomach. "Ah, this is the life. We just changed into aliens to save more aliens and we ended up saving more species of aliens than we had intended. As an added bonus, we get to take two of them home, where they're going to help us kill yet another species of aliens. Life is a video-game, I always told my aunt. Apparently she thought shopping was better than living the X-Files, but we just showed her!"

"It's okay, Marco. Living in the past can be painful," I told him dramatically.

Finally, Ax walked over to Jake and told him something. "Okay," Jake nodded. "Looks like our friends Obony and Alanna have something to ask us."

‹Yes, we do!› Alanna raised her head defiantly and poised her tail.

‹Careful, Alanna,› Obony warned her. ‹We're not dealing with Yeerks here.›

‹I know.› She turned back to Jake. ‹My friend and I would like to know who gave you the gift to morph.›

"Well-" Jake began, but Alanna cut him off. ‹We want to know who broke the law of _Seerow's Kindness_!›

Ax cringed. He doesn't like for other Andalites to accuse him of breaking one of the most important laws of his people. It wasn't him, actually, but Elfangor who gave us our morphing power. Still, he defended his brother. ‹I came to Earth in a crashed Dome ship. Surely you know that.›

Alanna and Obony responded, ‹Yes.›

‹Anyway,› Ax continued, ‹my friends came to help me. I was under the sea without any way to get out unless I morphed an Earth sea creature. But they came and rescued me. Once we reached the surface, I gave them the morphing power with a portable _Escafil_ device.›

Alanna did not look convinced. Neither, for that matter, did Obony. ‹Do Earth people have the same weakness to water as our people do? Can they not survive on

the bottom of the sea?› questioned Alanna.

‹No,› Ax admitted. ‹But-›

‹But nothing. Obviously they, like you, had to have acquired sea creatures to reach the bottom of the ocean where you were. Yes?›

‹Uh..yes.›

‹Well, then,› Obony smirked. ‹There you have it.›

‹Have what?› Ax looked confused. ‹I have told you, I gave them the morphing power as a thank-you for rescuing me. I thought that as I probably would never set hoof on the home world again, I might as well enlist them in the battle against the Yeerks with the best weapon I had.›

‹No,› Alanna pointed out, ‹_You _did not give these human children their power. You couldn't have, since they were already in morph when they found you.› She smiled the strange Andalite smile.

"See here, Miss Lanna or whatever your name is," I said angrily. "Who're you to come here, have us save you, and then ask who gave us the morphing power to make our friend feel stupid? I don't think that's very nice."

Ax rushed to apologize. ‹I am sorry about my friend Rachel. She can be very defensive sometimes. Mostly it comes in handy, but in times like this. . .› He let the sentence hang.

‹Alanna,› said the Andalite. ‹My name is Alanna. Now, I am sorry for ridiculing you in front of your friends, Aximili, but I would like to know who gave these humans the power to morph. Obony too,› she added.

‹Very well, then.› Ax was resigned. He slumped just a little. ‹My brother, Elfangor, allowed them to use his _Escafil _device. There.›

‹Oh, I see.› Alanna looked very interested in what Ax had to say.

"Okay, Ax-Man, Ali, Obi, guys, let's get this show on the road. What did you say you came for, ladies?" Marco. Of course. Only he would give nicknames to two Andalites, who, I thought, were very admirable. Especially Alanna. She was my kind of girl. But she looked insulted at the name that had been fastened on her. 'Ali'. How undignified.

"You little peabrain, don't call them names," I told Marco.

"Whoa, Xena, you know I look up to you." Literally. Marco is about a foot shorter than me. "But the gals need names. 'Alanna'? 'Obony'? Please. Ali is the name of one of my old girlfriends. And Obi is just plain cool. Ever heard of Obi-Wan Kenobi? He is so-"

I shoved him. "Just shut up, okay?" He did.

Obony looked at me with mild interest.

Cool. I had two stubborn Andalite girls on my side. Way cool.

_**Jake**_

Marco is kind of hard to put up with sometimes. He did give the Andalite females two names, which, if I were one of them, especially Obony, (Obi? My gosh) I would slap him.

But I called us to order and we discussed some stuff. Then we left the barn and went home. I morphed to peregrine falcon inside Cassie's barn, then flew off. Alanna and Obony stayed with Ax in his scoop.

When I got home, I found a note from my parents saying that my dad had a business dinner and there were TV dinners in the fridge. _Oh yeah, _I thought. _I remember that dinner._

Next to that note was a note from Tom, my brother, saying that he had taken his dinner and went to a meeting of The Sharing. I winced.

The Sharing is a front organization for the Yeerks. They make it seem like a family-oriented thing, like they can give you a place to go when you're having trouble. And then, when you've been going awhile, you get a chance to become a full member. And that's when you get a Yeerk in your head. I was once a Controller. It gave me nightmares afterwards.

But I shrugged off my sadness at Tom's decision. Tonight, I would relax. I turned on the TV and ate my TV dinner.

I watched some wrestling, some racing, some basketball, just channel-surfed for a while. Cassie called me and asked for some help with her homework.

We try to have these kinds of normal evenings all the time. It helps us forget that we are wanted on more planets than all the states most kids have been in. It helps us forget the fear that is always there. And sometimes normal evenings can turn out to be so screamingly unnatural it's uncanny. But other evenings, like this one, are uneventful. And that is good.

At around eight o'clock Marco came over and we argued about who would kick more butt on the Joker, Spiderman or Wolverine. I forget who won, but I remember it ending up being who could kick more butt on the other super hero. Nice and normal.

I slept well that night.

_**Tobias**_

I flew to Ax's scoop early the next day. I wanted to talk to him. But I forgot about the other two Andalites. They were there with him, performing their morning ritual. So I quietly morphed to Andalite and did it with them. Ax taught me how once.

Afterward I talked to Ax in private thought-speak while we both carried on an open conversation with the two girls. I noticed they watched me critically, probably wondering if I would do the morning ritual right. I think I did.

I noticed that they both seemed alternatively happy and talkative, then serious and formal. I think it has to do with something Ax and I were doing, but I couldn't figure out the pattern. After a while I said I would have to go.

I demorphed and lifted off to go catch a mouse. I was hungry. And I also wanted to think. I did not know how to feel about our visitors.


	7. Chapter 7: Obony and Aximili

_**Obony**_

I looked at the human boy all of our conversation with my stalk eyes. But my main eyes were focussed on Aximili, for I did not want to seem rude. I watched the boy Tobias morph. I know that his Andalite form is nothing but Aximili's DNA, but he seemed different. More rugged, perhaps, in the way he carried himself.

I loved it.

Alanna seemed to hang onto Aximili's every word, saying, ‹Yes?› or ‹Do go on,› whenever he said something. I got the feeling that she liked Aximili, something like how I was feeling about Tobias.

I know Tobias is a human, but I could see his Andalite heritage also. He instinctively carried his tail in the battle pose. This does not come with the DNA instincts, and I suspect he had not picked it up from Aximili.

After Tobias left, I nudged Alanna. ‹I suspect that you admire Aximili. Am I right? Do you not have strange feelings about him?›

‹I will not tell,› she retorted. ‹I got the same idea from the way you looked at the human boy.›

‹But-› I protested.

‹Anyway, how would you know the feelings I am having right now?›

‹Ah! So you-›

‹That is to say, if I _were_ having feelings about Aximili,› she said hurriedly.

‹Because. I feel perhaps the same way, only probably not as strong,› I teased. ‹I think that is what humans call a "crush." It means that you are having wishful thoughts about how Aximili feels about you. Am I right?›

‹Well, what about you?› she asked.

‹I. . .› I thought for a moment. Then I said something I heard the other human boy, Marco, say. ‹I asked you first.›

‹Uh. . . .um. . .› she groped for something to say. ‹Ahh. . . .yes!›

I laughed. ‹The truth! And that is what I wanted to know.› I turned to go.

‹Stop right there, Obony!›

I turned back slowly, reluctantly. ‹Yes, Mistress Alanna?› I used a proper name for her, to make her forget what I knew she would tell me.

It didn't work. ‹You may have asked me first but I also asked you a question. Do you or do you not like the human boy Tobias?›

I could feel her eyes on me, although I had lowered mine. ‹Yes,› I said quietly. ‹I suppose.›

‹You suppose!› Alanna laughed. ‹That is like saying I suppose the Skrit Na like to collect. Of course you like him. I could tell. That is okay, though, since I do not favor him. You may try to win his affection without my competition.›

‹Thank you, Mistress Alanna.› I bowed and left.

_**Aximili**_

I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. I have two beautiful females staying in my scoop. When they were talking to me, I could often feel the one named Alanna's eyes on me. It was a strange feeling. Not unpleasant, though. I took extra care to be kind and polite to her, although I was kind and polite to both of them.

After they left for the morning, Tobias came back. He ruffled his wings and perched in my scoop. ‹Hey, Ax-Man.›

‹What, Tobias?› I asked absentmindedly.

‹I think that one Andalite female likes you. I mean, really likes you. Alanna.›

‹Really?› I turned to look at him. ‹I picked up that feeling, too.› I was silent for a moment. I was thinking about another female who had come, Estrid. I had had a human crush on her, but it turned out that she had come to create a Quantum virus that may have wiped out humans. So I had to convince her not to release the virus into the air. I found out that I did not like Estrid very much.

But perhaps this was different. Perhaps Alanna was really worth spending my time with, worth taking her to The Gardens, as I had done with Estrid. Perhaps. . . .

No. I shook my head. I had experienced human mouth pleasures with Estrid, and look what she had turned out to be. It was better that I did not become attached to a female like I had to Estrid. But still. . . . .Alanna would have to acquire a human female, anyway. It was probably out of the question.

But I still had my dreams. And I thought about Alanna all afternoon, through _These Messages, The Young and the Restless, _and _Friends. _I paid attention during _These Messages, _though. _These Messages _are my favorite program on television.


	8. Chapter 8: Marco

_**Marco**_

I don't know why Rachel got so mad at me for calling the Andalite chicks 'Ali' and 'Obi'. I would date an Andalite named Ali. If I were an Andalite. And Obi is about the coolest name there is. Obi-Wan Kenobi rocked in Episode One.

I want to be Obi-Wan Kenobi.

That got me thinking. I said to myself, _Marco, old boy. What? Well, you know, you could make a fake call from old Ewan's agent and have him fly here. Then you could acquire him._

I laughed. It was my best idea yet, if I do say so myself. And I do. Say so myself, I mean. Of course, it would probably not go well with Jake. No, it wouldn't. So that was out of the question. The only other alternative was. . . .playing Obi in the sequel to Episode One!

Marco the Genius. Some people can't resist my irresistible cuteness, so they have to touch me. And pinch me. Some are even so desperate as to slap me. I'm sure they don't mean it. Who would want to hurt good ole Marco?

‹Having delusions of grandeur again, Fly-Boy?› Rachel! She flew past me.

Rachel is my archest arch rival. Not to mention the most rivalry. I think she's dying for me.

As all girls are.

I morphed to osprey and went home. After a while I went to Jake's house. It was cool. Very normal. Very normal and very cool.

Did I mention that it was cool?


	9. Chapter 9: Alanna, Cassie, Obony, Tobias

_**Alanna**_

I did not expect to _like _Aximili in the way I did. I also did not realize that I had showed those feelings in the way I had.

‹Was it really obvious that I like Aximili?› I asked Obony.

‹Yes,› she replied, ‹although I do believe he also has feelings for you.›

‹Really? I hadn't noticed.›

‹Yes, you . . . What was it that human girl Rachel said? . . . peabrain, was it not obvious to you?›

‹No, it was not.›

‹Oh.›

We walked in silence for awhile.

‹Let us now return to Aximili's scoop.› I said.

‹You miss him already?›

‹No,› I quickly replied. ‹It's just that, well, I would like Aximili to show us more of Earth. We lost all of our supplies when the ship was taken, including the maps.›

‹Sounds good. I will ask Aximili if Tobias can join us.›

It took us 23 Earth minutes to return to Aximili's scoop.

‹Would you be willing to show us around planet Earth?› I asked.

‹Of, course.› Aximili replied. ‹But, Prince Jake has just informed Tobias that another meeting is to be held at Cassie's barn in 30 Earth minutes. I will show you around after that, unless there is a mission.›

We flew to the human Cassie's barn. It was the middle of an Earth day, and the 'Animorphs' as I had heard them call themselves, were aligned in the same fashion as the day before.

‹May I inquire to what this meeting is about?› I asked.

"We've decided to take you chicks on a field trip!" Marco said.

‹A field trip? What is a field trip?›

"We are taking you out to see Earth, or at least what is in our area," Prince Jake said. "First you need to aquire a human morph. Can you mix human DNA?"

‹Yes,› I answered. ‹We have the ability to mix morphs.›

"Okay, well you can't do a mix of all of us, because that's Ax. How about a mix of Cassie and Rachel and a mix of Rachel and I?"

"Hey! What about me?" Marco asked, sounding hurt.

"They don't want to turn out short and ugly!" Rachel said.

‹Umm,› I said, exasperated. These humans confused me. ‹Yes, I guess, Prince

Jake.›

"Okay, let's do . . ." Rachel started.

"IT!" Marco finished.

These humans were going to take some getting used to.

_**Cassie**_

It felt weird being acquired. I fell into a trance for a few seconds, then opened my eyes. Obony had just finished acquiring Rachel and was starting to morph. After a while, Alanna started to do the same. The boys of course turned around while we showed the Andalites how to put on the clothes we had set aside for them.

Ax's human morph is disturbingly familiar, yet not so familiar that you could really look at him and say, "You look like me!" Obony and Alanna's morphs were like that. A stranger wouldn't notice, but I did. I could tell Rachel and Jake were experiencing the same feelings. Obony's morph was an attractive girl with brown hair and hazel eyes. Alanna was a blonde girl with blue eyes. I got the impression that Marco thought they were pretty - his mouth was hanging open.

"I would definitely date them! I'm going for the one with the brown hair."

"Date? Day-yut? Daayt? What is date?" Obony asked. "Day. Yut. Day-day. Date."

"Well there's this thing called a crush, where a person like _likes _someone and then they - Geez, I can't explain it. A guy likes a girl so he asks her if he'll go somewhere fun with him," Marco explained.

"Oh, I see. Oooh Iiii see. I seeeee," Alanna said.

"Try not to do that," Jake told them. "People will find it unusual and if a Controller hears, he might suspect something.".

"Yes, Prince Jake. Jay-Kuh. Jay," Ax said.

"Not you too!" Jake said, exasperated. The Andalites seemed confused, but I felt Ax would explain.

"Okay guys," I said. "Let's get moving."

We took the Andalites to the mall first. Ax felt that the first human experience Obony and Alanna should have was a Cinnabon.

"Cinnabon. Cinnn. Cinna. Aaaaa. Abon. Cinnabonnnn. Bonbonbonbon. Cinnnnabonnnn. Nuh." Alanna said.

"Oi vey," said Jake, throwing up his hands. "So the guards at the mall think we go to the asylum to get friends. We can deal with this, people."

I guess even Jake loses his temper.

_**Obony**_

We walked into the mall. Prince Jake was muttering strange things like 'Oi vey.'

"Veeeeyuh. Oi-oi. Oi-yuh veey." Alanna must have made a strange human spectacle in the area of the mall we were entering.

"This is the food court," Marco explained. "It's got important things like Taco Bell, Cinnabon, and the Jelly Belly store."

"Cinnabon!" Aximili said excitedly. "The cinnamon bun is one of the most wonderful inventions of the human race! As is the cigarette butt. Butt."

Prince Jake shuffled away and looked at us like he had never seen us before. Marco looked after him cheerfully, then back at us. "Well, at least he left us some money."

He had indeed. 20 human dollars rested in his pocket, and we approached the Cinnabon. Aximili grasped Alanna's hand in excitement. "You will like this! I promise! I guarantee. Teeee. Perhaps they will purchase you two some brown globules. It is called chocolate. Chock-lit."

I nodded at Alanna. "Chock-a-lit. Chock." We agreed that it was a wonderful mouth-sound word.

Marco now looked worried. "Now, Ax. Don't go making promises you can't keep. We are definitely _not_ going to buy them chocolate."

"Ah." He looked at us. "No brown globules."

That was okay with us. We bought some cinnamon buns. Ax proudly handed each of us a cinnamon bun. Alanna and I consumed them quickly and glanced around for more.

"Cinnnnna! More-uh! More cinnamon buns! Bun-zuh. More! Must purrrrchase more! Give meeee the moneeeey!" Alanna reached over to Marco's pocket. He stood up so quickly his chair fell over.

"Now ladies, we do _not_ do that. No. And Jake said no more buns. Okay? Got that? Okay. So let's go."

Rachel rolled her eyes and joined Jake.

Cassie watched her and sighed. She walked over to Jake and Rachel and conversed with them quickly. They came back, all of them.

We walked over to a store called The Gap.

"Gaaaaaaap." I could not resist.

Rachel led us over to some racks of clothes in the 'Juniors' section. She had a lot more money than Marco. When we left, it was mostly gone.

_**Tobias**_

When I joined the others at the mall - in human morph of course - Jake was embarrassed. One Andalite experiencing talking with a mouth is bad enough. But three? It was a wonder we had agreed to go in the first place.

After Cinnabon and The Gap we went to the movies. Obony and Alanna demorphed and remorphed in the bathrooms, and Rachel and Cassie helped them get on their new clothes.

The movie wasn't very exciting, about some alien invasion. I haven't been to the movies in awhile - being a hawk and all. The aliens weren't very realistic - considering that I am half Andalite, and have seen many species from around the galaxy, I have plenty of room to say that.

In the middle of the movie Obony and Alanna were trying to do what Ax had done at his first time to the movies - pick up discarded candy and eat it. They were not completely sucessful - they didn't take it from other people as Ax did. We had bought enough candy to last them for awhile, and after it was gone, we took them back to Cassie's barn.

Her parents weren't home, so Ax, Obony, Alanna, and I demorphed. We talked awhile, then went our separate ways.

I went home with Ax. Of course, so did Obony and Alanna. I perched on Ax's TV and we watched for a while.

‹What is the purpose of this TV?› Alanna asked. She had all four of her eyes on the screen. ‹What are the humans doing?›

Ax stepped behind her. ‹This TV is to entertain and inform humans. Those humans are wrestling. Tobias and Marco have told me that this kind of wrestling is called WWF.›

‹It's not the kind, Ax-man. It's the order,› I told him.

‹Yes,› Ax agreed. ‹The order.›

‹Ah.› Obony stared at the guys who were pounding each other. Then she turned to look at me. I ruffled my wings and turned my head.


	10. Chapter 10: Jake and Rachel

_**Jake**_

I stayed at Cassie's house after the others left. Her parents called with news that they would be late, and that Cassie was to make her own dinner. It was only about five o'clock, so I stayed and watched a movie with Cassie. We watched Star Wars: Episode One. It was cool. Now I know where Marco got the name Obi for Obony. After the movie, I walked home - I wasn't sure if Tom was home and I didn't want to risk anything.

Tom was home, so were my parents. They had wondered where I was, but they weren't worried, yet.

The next day was Sunday, so I had another day to do something fun. Not with two Andalites new to human morph. I feel asleep thinking of things to do tomorrow, and was rudely awakened by my phone ringing loudly in my ear.

"Yesss?" I said around a yawn.

"BEWARE, BEWARE OF THE YEERKS!"

Now I was fully awake. "Hello? Hello?" I said to a dead line.

So much for a quiet Sunday.

_**Rachel**_

Jake called me early on Sunday with a startling message.

"Rachel, one of our, uh, friends called. He told me something that I wanted to share. It's really, uh, funny."

_Not_, I added silently. When we are on the phone about Yeerks we try to talk in code. Tom or another Controller might be listening. I quickly called Cassie while Jake called Marco. Tobias came over and I told him. He flew back to Ax, Obony, and Alanna to tell them that there would be another meeting.

I morphed to bald eagle and launched out of my window. I met up with Jake and Marco, and together we flew to Cassie's barn. Ax, Tobias, Obony, and Alanna were already there talking. We demorphed and Jake stood in front of us all, running his fingers through his hair. I could tell that he was upset.

"Okay, guys, last night, really late, I got this phone call. And whoever it was said, 'Beware of the Yeerks!' As you can imagine, we need to check this out. I was wondering if Ax could maybe try and figure out what phone the call was made from."

‹Maybe,› Ax said. ‹I could certainly try. But, Prince Jake, would it be safe for me to go to your house, even if I was in human morph?›

"Hmm. Good point. Well, Ax, you _have _gotten a lot better about how you sound things out and stuff. Maybe Tom will be out today. Let's go then. In fact, I think he had a meeting of The Sharing today. Yeah, it'll be okay."

‹Could we perhaps bring them?› Ax gestured to Alanna, who was right beside him, and Obony, who was watching Cassie help an injured bird.

"Yeah, sure why not?" Jake agreed.

"Cool," I said. "Now, for the real problem. Should we bring Marco? I don't think your parents would want a dirty, ugly monkey in their house."

"You're right. But maybe they also don't want their house totally wrecked," retorted Marco.

He was referring to the time when I developed an allergy to one of the animals I acquired and morphed spontaneously. I had morphed to elephant in my room (not on purpose) and my room had fallen into the kitchen. Guess houses nowadays aren't made for elephants.

"Hey, guys, cut it out," Cassie said. She doesn't like fighting. "We don't want to set a bad example for our, ahem, guests."

Jake sighed, but it wasn't an I-give-up sigh. It was more of an okay sigh. "Yeah, we're all going."

I morphed to bald eagle once again, and the two female Andalites acquired an osprey that Cassie had in the barn. Then we all flew to Jake's house.

Ax demorphed and quickly morphed to human, as did Obony and Alanna. Ax knelt on Jake's bed and examined the phone. He punched a few buttons. Then he hit _redial_ and handed the phone to Jake.

"There, Prince Jake. When you hold this up to your ear and press the button 'phone', it should tell you the address and phone number of the phone the call was made from. Phoooee. Nuh."

"Remember, Ax, don't do that." Jake held the phone up to his ear as he pressed 'phone'. We could hear a slight murmer as the mechanical operator told Jake the address and phone number. Jake scribbled on a note pad. Then he hung up and showed us the information.

"4021 Redwood Street, 282-1085," Cassie said. "Take the whole pad. If Tom comes back he could figure out that there's something there. And when he goes and

finds animals. . ." She didn't finish. We knew what could happen. And it couldn't happen.

For the third time that day, I morphed to bald eagle. We all went home, except Jake. We couldn't spoil our Sunday. The mission was set for Tuesday.


	11. Chapter 11: Alanna, Marco, Obony, and Ax

_**Alanna**_

The rest of the day Aximili, Obony and I spent at The Gardens, where a whole bunch of Earth animals were located. Aximili told us that if we wanted to acquire any of the animals, it had to be done at night, when no one was around. Aximili bought us many more human treats, including chocolate. The many-colored globules were very tasty, and Obony and I both wanted more.

"Instead of chocolate. Choco. Late. There is another human candy that you must taste." Aximili then proceeded to buy what looked almost like human hair.

"What is this?" I asked. "Thiii. Isss?"

"It is called cotton candy, it is very good."

And indeed it was. Obony, Aximili, and I had soon finished one cotton candy each. Afterwards we had to go to the human bathroom. We were all very sticky. The bathrooms were very interesting. I tried to go into all of the little rooms, but some of them wouldn't open, and when Obony and I tried to break them open, the humans inside the rooms made angry mouth sounds.

After about thirty Earth minutes, we left the bathroom, and met up with Aximili, who was waiting by an animal habitat near the bathrooms.

"I would like to acquire one of those." I said, pointing to the brown animal. It was very big and appeared very strong.

"Yes, it is a nice animal. It is called a lion. I believe that this is a female, so it would be called a lioness." Aximili explained.

We moved on. There were many different animals, and Aximili told us what each was called. We came to a habitat that contained a very large black animal, similar to the one I had choosen.

"I would like to acquire this." Obony said. "What is it called?"

"This is called a black panther." Aximili said. "We will return tonight for you to acquire this and some other morphs that we use often."

We left The Gardens about two hours later - we had demorphed and remorphed in one of the tiny bathrooms.

That night, Aximili took us back to The Gardens. This time we flew in as birds and demorphed when we reached the dolphin habitat.

After acquiring one of the sleek gray animals, we walked to the lioness' habitat. It was not as easy to acquire the lioness as it had been the dolphin, but I managed.

It also was not easy for Obony the aqcuire the black panther - it was a very hostile animal.

We went on to acquire many more animals, including the killer whale, and the wolf.

‹Earth has many animals,› I stated.

‹Yes, indeed,› Aximili replied. ‹It is easier for us than it would have been on a planet with very few native animals.›

Obony told us that she wanted to look and see if there was another animal that she wished to acquire, and left Aximili and I alone.

‹Why did you leave us alone?› I asked Obony in private thought speech.

‹Uhhh, no reason,› she replied but I knew the reason.

‹Would you like to morph to human?› Aximili asked me. ‹I would like to show you something.›

‹Okay› I said and morphed to my human form. Aximili did the same.

"I would like to show another pleasure that humans share with their mouths." Aximili told me. "I have seen it on _Friends_ and many other shows. I have also seen my friends, Jake and Cassie, share this."

He brought his human head close to mine and touched my lips with his. Aximili was right. This was a great human mouth pleasure, almost as good as Cinnabons. Almost.

_**Marco**_

Soon the trio of Andalites returned from their excursion to The Gardens. Ax and Alanna looked slightly sheepish. About what, I don't know. Obony and Alanna proudly showed off their new morphs, and Cassie and I applauded. I was still at Cassie's because I wanted to see the morphs.

Cassie was pleased with their choices. She told them that both would be powerful in battle.

Later they went back to Ax's scoop-thing, and I followed them. I wanted to

ask Ax about the funny look on his face when they had returned.

The girls went out to practice the lioness and panther, and I stayed with Ax. I demorphed from osprey and started bugging him.

"Hey, Ax-man, what was that all about?"

‹What? What was what all about?› Ax looked genuinely confused, but I didn't fall for it. It was an act. Takes one to know one.

"Aw, come on. You know," I said. "When you got back with that Ali chick and the other Obi chick. You and Ali looked embarrassed or something."

‹Embarrassed? We were not embarrassed. Why should we be embarrassed? We did not do anything that would cause us to be embarrassed.› Ax really _did _look embarrassed. Not an act this time.

"Oooh, come on, tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone." I crossed my fingers behind my back, in case it was something good I could tell the others.

‹Well. . . .› Ax trailed off and looked at some point behind me.

"Go on," I coaxed.

‹Well, Alanna and I were experiencing human mouth pleasures. I showed her the thing that the characters on _Friends _and _The Young and the Restless _do. I forget its name at the moment.›

"Kissing?" I shrieked. "You _kissed _Ali? Oh my gosh! I have to tell-" I broke off. I shouldn't tell Ax that I was going to tell anyone.

‹Tell who?› Ax looked at me menacingly.

"Uh. . .no one."

‹Good. And also do not tell that I have affections for Alanna.›

"You _do_?" I almost choked on the laugh I was holding in. "So that was why you kissed her."

‹Yes,› Ax agreed. ‹Because I have seen Monica and Chandler from TV do this when they have strong affection for each other. Which is often.›

Oh, crap. Andalites were getting crushes on each other. What a mess.

_**Obony**_

I had practiced my panther morph a few times. I was pleased with its strength and cunning.

I left Alanna alone with Aximili at The Gardens. I more or less knew what would happen. And it did. We got back to Cassie's barn and demorphed. Then Alanna

and I went to practice our morphs. It was hard at first to control the instincts that made the big cats want to fight each other. But we soon conquered that and had a good time.

As we were walking back to Aximili's scoop, Tobias joined us. He morphed to Andalite. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. I decided that I really liked Tobias very much. He seemed to feel the same way.

When we got to the scoop, Alanna went in. Tobias and I stayed out for a few moments. I do not know why. I morphed to human. I do not know why. Tobias demorphed and went to human also. That also I do not know the reason for.

Then, smoothly, so smoothly I almost did not notice, Tobias put his human arm around me. His eyes looked happy and nervous. He seemed to be deciding whether to do something. Then we went inside.

Marco was there. He looked at us with his large human eyes. "Whoo, Tobias likes an Andalite!"

"Shut up, Marco!" Tobias turned red. "How. . . would you know? Maybe I don't."

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Marco morphed to his osprey and flew to his human scoop.

I looked at Tobias. He was smiling with his human mouth. At me. I smiled back. Aximili and Alanna looked at each other and withdrew to a corner of the scoop. They touched their foreheads together. I almost laughed. So they really _did _like each other. Touching foreheads is an Andalite expression of love.

Tobias shot a glance at them. He raised and dropped his shoulders, then looked back at me. We demorphed. And I spent another night in Aximili's scoop.

_**Aximili**_

After I kissed Alanna, we did not resist showing our feelings toward each other openly.

I noticed that Tobias and Obony seemed to have feelings for each other too, but I did not note that as odd. Tobias was part Andalite after all.

The next morning, Prince Jake, Cassie, Rachel and Marco had school to go to, so Tobias, Alanna, Obony and I decided to take a tour - in the air.

Obony, Alanna and I morphed into birds and we soared above everything. Tobias was our guide, explaining what certain buildings were, I of course had seen everything many times, but I still enjoyed the trip. We stopped about every hour and a half to demorph and remorph. At about the time the rest of the Animorphs got out

of school, we stopped above the school and landed in random trees around the area - we didn't want to attract attention.

I saw Marco and Prince Jake come out after awhile, talking.

‹Do not look up, Prince Jake and Marco, but Alanna, Obony, Tobias and I are in the trees around you. We just came to say hello because we were flying by. Is there anything you need to tell us?›

Prince Jake shook his head.

‹I will return to my scoop now,› I said. ‹Tobias? Alanna? Obony?›

‹I will join you there.› Alanna was quick to reply.

‹I will also join you,› Obony said.

‹You know what, guys?› Tobias asked. ‹qI think I'm going to talk to Jake, I'll meet you at the scoop later.›

Obony seemed torn, but when Alanna and I took off, Obony followed.

I wondered what Tobias wanted to talk to Jake about, but I decided that if he wanted me to know, he would tell me.


	12. Chapter 12: Cassie, Rachel and Obony

_**Cassie**_

I went over to Rachel's house after school. No one was at her house, so we were free to talk.

Or at least I thought we would be. Tom, Jake's brother came over.

"Hiya, cuz," Tom's Yeerk said when Rachel opened the door. "I was just wondering if you have had any prank phone calls lately."

"Umm. . . no, not that I've answered." Rachel casually replied. I knew we were thinking the same thing - had Tom overheard Jake's phone call? Did he suspect something?

"Oh, well in that case," said the Yeerk, mimicking Tam's voice, "good day to you."

After Tom had left, and we were sure he wasn't coming back, Rachel and I rushed up to her room.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked me.

"Are you thinking that he overheard that call Jake got? Or found out about it somehow?"

"Something like that." Rachel answered.

"I suppose we should call Jake."

"Yeah, he needs to know about this."

"I'll walk home now, and let Tobias and the others know." I said.

"Okay. I'll call Jake and he can call Moron."

"Excuse me?"

"Umm. . . errr. . . Marco, that's his name, right?"

I just stared.

I left Rachel's house a little later, walking with a false skip in my step. I morphed to osprey when I got to my house and flew to Ax's scoop.

〈Hiya guys,〉 I said, 〈meeting at my place in a half an hour.〉

〈Okay,〉 Ax said, after the commercials he was intent on were over. 〈We will be there.〉

〈Is Tobias here?〉 I asked. I could see Alanna and Obony flanking Ax, but Tobias was not on his perch.

〈He said he had to speak with Jake.〉 Ax said. 〈But that was about an hour ago.〉

〈Oh, well, I guess I better look for him.〉

I looked in his tree and scanned the area. There wasn't a red-tailed hawk in sight.

〈I wonder where he could be.〉 I said to myself, 〈Maybe he's still at Jake's.〉

I flew back to my barn and demorphed. In a little while everyone except Tobias was there.

"Where could he be?" I asked Jake. I was worried.

"He'll show up," Jake said. "Don't worry."

_**Rachel**_

We gathered in Cassie's barn. I saw Jake and Cassie together, waiting for Tobias. Ax and Alanna stood together off to one side. Obony stood alone, also waiting for Tobias. Marco watched for a minute, then grinned michieviously. He sidled over to me.

"Oh, hey Rachel, I guess it's true. You and I were meant to be together."

I slapped at him. "Get away, you little creep."

He dodged my hand and put his arm around my shoulder. "Now, now. No need to get violent. I know how you feel about me, so you don't have to try and deny it."

I sighed and moved away from Marco with the parting words, "When you gain maturity I'll consider touching you."

Jake walked up to Marco. "Marco, don't be mean."

Marco pretended to cry. "But, but she tried to slap me. I hurt. Waaaaa!"

I rolled my eyes. Marco was obviously not going to grow up anytime soon. So

much for me touching him. I grinned. Poor Marco. It would probably break his heart.

Just then, Tobias swooped in through the open door.

〈Hey guys, sorry I'm late.〉 He took his usual spot in the rafters. I arched my eyebrow. These days he was standing next to Obony. But it was his choice.

Cassie stepped forward and motioned for me to come up beside her. I did. Cassie spoke first. "Jake, today I was at Rachel's house. And . ." I knew how hard this was for Cassie. She doesn't like to hurt peoples' feelings. And this would hurt Jake. "And Tom came. He asked if we had gotten any prank calls. Rachel and I were wondering if maybe he heard you or the caller, whoever called you . . ." She trailed off, let Jake think about it.

Jake pondered the information for a minute. Then he looked up. "Naw, I don't think he heard it. Although it was loud, Tom's room is two walls away from mine. And my door was closed. It was probably just a coincidence. Or maybe there is someone the Yeerks know about who is making calls about them, and they're just trying various people who may have gotten a call."

"Yeah." I nodded. "That's probably it."

We all went to our various homes. As we left, I noticed Tobias morph to Andalite and walk with Obony.

_**Obony**_

I went back to Aximili's scoop with Tobias. I was comfortable with him around. I smiled at him with my eyes, the way Andalites do. He smiled back. Then, as is our new ritual, we morphed to human. Alanna and Aximili went into the scoop. Tobias and I stayed out. And we stared at each other. We really looked.

I liked what I saw.

He leaned toward me, hesitating to see if I would pull back. I didn't. He put his arm around my back. He brought his human mouth to mine and touched them together. It was an amazing sensation. I liked it.

He pulled away. "I'm . . . um. . .sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"It's all right, Tobias. Toe. Bias. It was . . . pleasurable."

His face turned red and he walked into Aximili's scoop.

I quickly demorphed and followed Tobias into the scoop. He turned his head away. Did he truly believe that he shouldn't have done that? I put my hand on his human arm.

〈Tobias. . . it's okay. Truly I did not mind.〉

"Really?" He turned back to me. "But I still shouldn't have done that. I mean, you're going back to your planet. . ."

I shrugged, a thing I had seen Marco do. 〈Tobias, we do not have to go back. Kuh. Back.〉

"See, then, I . . .what?"

〈We do not have to leave. At least I do not.〉

"Oh."

We went back outside. I guess we both had some more things to tell each other.


	13. Chapter 13: M, J, T, Obony and R

_**Marco**_

I kind of felt bad, breaking my promise to Ax and telling the others about him and Ali. But I couldn't resist.

The next day after school, I saw Rachel. "Hey, Rachel. Guess what?"

"You think you might have grown up?"

"No, Ax's got a girlfriend!"

"Oh, who? You?"

"No, I don't do that alternative couple thing. Anyway, you dumb blonde, it's that Andalite chick, Ali!"

"How would you know? Been trying to get closer to Alanna, Marco?"

"No!" She _was_ a dimwit. "He kissed her! In human morph!"

That stopped Rachel in her tracks. "Oh, man." She couldn't stop laughing. "I gotta tell Cassie!"

That taken care of, I went in search of Jake. He was usually with me after school, so I had no clue where he was now. After looking for Jake in our usual school hangout spots, I left for home. I called over to Jake's house. Tom answered. I hung up as soon as I learned that Jake was not there. This was bugging me. Where could he be?

The phone rang. I jumped.

"Uhh, hello?" I asked after the third ring.

"Hi, this is Rachel, Jake's cousin. Umm. . . I think he may be with one of my friends. Meet me there?"

I knew what she meant.

"Oh. . .you mean the other friend? Her?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay, thanks. I was looking for Jake."

"I know."

I hung up and opened my window. I morphed to osprey and flew to Cassie's barn. Jake was there. He got up and walked over to me. "Hey, man."

"Hey. Why'd you leave?"

"I needed to talk with Cassie."

"Did you see Rachel?" I asked.

"No, why?"

"Because she has some juicy gossip for Cassie. And I have it for you."

I leaned over and whispered in Jake's ear. He shook his head, shocked. "Oh, man, really?"

"Uh-huh." I'm sure I looked smug. I'm good at that.

_**Jake**_

It was interesting that Ax now had a girlfriend, but that's not what was on my mind.

I had come to Cassie's after school because I had a theory about the prank caller. Was it a trap? Had the Yeerks finally found out about our real identity, and if so, how?

Either that, or it was a Controller who had somehow managed to escape. If it was an ex-Controller, why had he wanted to bring attention to himself?

Cassie and I had decided that we needed to send in a couple Animorphs to check things out first - in squirrel morph. I decided to call a meeting tonight. We would decide who to send then.

_**Later**_

After everyone had arrived at Cassie's barn, I explained my theories.

"So, we send someone in as a rodent to see if Yeerks are waiting, right?", Marco asked. "Okay, doesn't sound dangerous, I'll go."

"You would run away from danger, wouldn't you Marco?" Rachel teased, "Don't you realize that this is the most dangerous? It's most likely to be Yeerks, and . . . I shudder at the thought."

"Umm. . . I just remembered. . . I have a doctor's appointment."

Okay, so my friends didn't take this seriously, but it still had to be done.

"Who wants the job? Any takers, or do I have to assign you guys?"

"I do believe Tobias and I would be right for this mission," Obony said. She, Ax, and Alanna had morphed to humans. "If it is all right with you, Tobias," she added.

Tobias nodded, funny-looking for a bird. 〈Yeah, I don't have anything to do - we could go tomorrow, while you guys are at school.〉

That settled, we left Cassie's barn - one bird or human at a time.

_**Tobias**_

When Obony and I agreed to the mission, we thought it would be in and out. Nothing to it. But something was not right.

〈I have a bad feeling about this, Obony.〉

〈You are not afraid, are you Tobias?〉

〈No,〉 I said hurriedly. 〈I just have a badfeeling about this.〉

〈Oh.〉

We flew in silence for awhile.

〈There it is,〉 I said.

Obony dived into the backyard of the house I had indicated.

After a few minutes I followed.

We didn't have to break in - the back door was already opened. Forced open.

Obony demorphed and remorphed to squirrel in a tiny shed in the yard. I hid in the bushes and morphed the squirrel also.

We crept through the back door. The house was ramshackled.

〈Well,〉 I said, 〈either the guy was quick in leaving, or there was a fight.〉

〈I am guessing there was a fight〉, Obony said. I agreed.

We continued on through the house. Everything was a mess, and no one was in sight.

〈Well, I don't think this is a trap,〉 I said, 〈but I do think that someone _was _here. We should tell the others.〉

We ran out of the house. Obony demorphed and remorphed in the same shed as before, and I demorphed in the bushes.

As we were about to take off, a net went over Obony's head.

"I've got you, Visser Three, now you'll pay!" said a man's voice.

I flew towards him, talons out-stretched. But the man had a Dracon beam. He fired off a couple of shots at me, missing me both times. He wouldn't miss for very long, after he had full control of Obony.

〈Save yourself, Tobias! Tell the others! Return for me with them!〉

I didn't want to leave her, but I had no choice.

〈I'll return for you, Obony, I promise,〉 I said as I flew away. I had to.

_**Obony**_

I struggled in the net for a moment, but it soon became apparent that I was not going to escape. As calmly as possible, I demorphed, growing inside the net. I breathed out in relief as my tail extended from the feathers of the osprey. The man holding the net let go as my growing form pushed it in strange angles. He backed away nervously.

"Don't kill me, Visser, I swear I didn't mean anything."

〈Visser? You speak of Visser Three, the Abomination himself?〉 I felt anger welling up in me. 〈Do not speak his name in front of me!〉

The man looked faint. "You. . .you're not Visser Three? Oops, sorry, _him_?"

〈No.〉 I focused my stalk eyes on him. 〈I am not. I am Obony-Machelle-Sirima. And now may I ask who you are?〉

"I'm. . ." The human seemed at a loss for words. "I'm, uh, Al Keates."

As calmly as I had demorphed, I flipped my tail forward and held it near the man's head. He moaned a bit. 〈Is this your true name, human?〉

"Uh, yes, yes it is! I promise! Don't kill me!"

〈I will not kill you. I am not a Yeerk, ruthless and unforgiving. I will let you live. But you must tell me about yourself.〉

The man sat down shakily. "Well, I'm Al Keates. And I live here. I got. . .I got infested. . ." I could see how hard it was for him to remember. I took my tail away as to ease the pressure on him. ". . .infested. . .by a Yeerk. I will never forget. . ." He brushed his hand across his face, wiping tears of fear and horror out of his eyes. "And I escaped. We visited the mountains. I had. . .he had to. . .or else it would have blown his cover. The Yeerk's. But we were there for more than three days. So he died. . .and the voices. . .the memories." He looked at me, genuine terror shining through his teary eyes.

"When he. . .it. . .died, there were a lot of his memories. From previous hosts. And after, I promised myself that nothing like that should ever happen to anyone ever, ever, ever again! I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. So once I escaped, I started calling people up. Random people. I guess I called one of your friends, huh?"

〈Yes. One of my hu - my friends on Earth, the only friends I have now. You did call him.〉

"Oh. I'm sorry if I stressed you Andalites. You being the protectors of Earth and all," he said.

〈Stressed?〉 I asked. 〈Oh, never mind. I am sorry for disturbing you, human. Al Keates.〉 I bowed slightly. 〈You have my respect. I have no pity for the Yeerks. You are proof of the horror they spread.〉

"Gee, thanks." He watched as I morphed back to osprey and flew away.

_**Rachel**_

〈HELP! TRAP!〉 I heard Tobias's thought speech voice during my English class.

"Mrs. Pierce, can I get a pass to first aid? My stomach hurts. And I have a head-ache."

"Why, of course, Rachel," replied my teacher. "Here you go," she added, giving me a pass.

I walked briskly down the hall, clutching my stomach. I went to the girls' bathroom. Cassie was there waiting for me.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Yeah. Hurry." Cassie replied already starting to morph. She had put her over- clothes in her backpack, which she left on the floor for me to do the same. After stuffing the backpack, along with our clothes, in the garbage can, I started to morph.

We flew out the window Cassie had opened and up into the air. Marco, Jake and Tobias were waiting for us.

〈Hurry!〉 Tobias shouted, his thought speech so loud I was sure the whole school had heard.

We sped as fast as we could to the house Tobias and Obony had been exploring. Along the way, we ran into Ax and Alanna, who Tobias had alerted first. Gee, Tobias had done some flying!

We arrived above the mysterious house just in time to see an Andalite - Obony - morph to osprey and leap away from a stunned man.

〈What happened?〉 I asked.

〈Oh. . . guys, I didn't see you!〉

〈What happened?〉 Alanna cried.

〈He's a freed Controller. He thought I was Visser Three.〉

〈I would like to talk to him,〉 Jake said after a few seconds. 〈He could have valuable information for us.〉

〈Okay, come on.〉

〈Human,〉 Obony said to the man, still standing there, 〈these are my friends - the Andalites come to save Earth. We would like some information from you, if you can remember.〉

All eight of us landed in the trees in his yard.

"Nightmares are all that fill my head now, and a strong hatred for Yeerks," he sighed. "I'm afraid I wouldn't be much use to you."

〈Are you sure?〉 Jake asked. 〈It would mean a lot to us.〉

"The last thing that creature in my head spoke about, before he was in danger of dying, was something about Visser One returning."

I looked at Marco. Visser One lived in Marco's "dead" mother's head. He had to make a tough decision on an earlier mission, concerning whether Visser One should live or not.

The ex-Controller gave Jake some more information about Visser One's plans. It sounded like another mission. But what if this guy was a fluke? Maybe he was setting us up, yet again. We had no way of knowing, and we needed to check every angle of the Yeerks' evil plan.

〈Can we do anything to help you?〉 Jake asked when we were ready to leave. I know he sympathized with the ex-Controller - Jake is also one.

"No," Al Keates said. "I'm leaving for the mountains tonight. The Yeerks have been here once, looking for me. I must leave as soon as possible."

〈Then all we can do is thank you,〉 Jake said.

As we were leaving, one at a time, Cassie said, 〈We have met Yeerks who do not like what is going on, who don't believe in host-slavery. Do not hate them. I know that it is hard for everyone. But hate is very strong, and if you hurt someone with hate, you are no better than the ones you hate. And remember, always have hope.〉

I was surprised at Cassie's choice of words, but I took them to heart. I've seen the movies, all that "hate leads to the Dark Side" and stuff, and now I see what they mean.


	14. Chapter 14: Marco, Alanna, Obony

**Marco**

Okay, so I kind of didn't want to go to that guy's house. But it was taken care of. Tobias and Obony went in, right? And they all got away, they didn't have anything happen to them. But I had known it was a bad idea. I had known.

My mother was coming back.

Last I had seen of her, the Yeerk in her head was under trial for treason. We had come on her request to expose something Visser Three had done. He was also on trial. We had left my mother in a tunnel, forcing the Yeerk to slither out of her for few minutes. I told my mother I loved her. And then we left.

That was all I knew. My mother may have been killed, killed because of things the Yeerk had done. Edriss, her name is. Or was. Or, my mother may have been allowed to live. And Edriss with her.

I promised the Yeerk that I would kill her. Someday I would kill her for what she did to my family. See, for two years, my dad and I thought that my mother was dead. That she had drowned in a boating accident. And they couldn't find the body. Of course not. Because a Bug fighter had come and taken my mom away, up to some vile Yeerk ship orbiting the planet.

That was why, as I sat in the tree listening to Jake and Al Keates, my blood ran cold. _Something about Visser One returning. _Visser One. That's who she is. The Yeerk. The most powerful Yeerk in the Yeerk Empire, aside from the Council of Thirteen. Or maybe not anymore, maybe the Yeerk named Edriss had been demoted. Maybe.

Jake understood. As we flew home, he spoke to me privately. He was the first one to know about my mother. And the only other Animorph to have a Controller family member.

〈Look, Marco, we don't have to find out the truth, if Visser One is really coming back.〉

〈No, Jake, that's okay.〉

〈Are you sure? I may be the 'Fearless Leader', but you did have to make some really hard decisions. Remember the mountaintop?〉

I shuddered in flight. The mountaintop was where I had planned to have Vissers One and Three kill each other. Destroy each other. It wouldn't have been so hard except for that my mother was there, too. 〈Yeah. We can investigate it. We really can, if you want.〉

But Jake knew me. 〈If we do have to do this mission, you can sit it out.〉

〈Thanks, man.〉

〈You're welcome, Marco.〉

_**Alanna**_

We flew back to Aximili's scoop. The humans decided not to return to Cassie's barn; they returned to their own scoops. I believe the humans call them houses. If they are all like Jake's home - closed and cooped up - I don't know how they can live in them.

Aximili, Obony, Tobias and I flew back to Aximili's scoop. When we arrived we settled down to watch the television. Aximili and I thoroughly enjoyed _These Messages_, although Tobias kept insisting that we watch the _Indiana Jones _marathon. Aximili and I preferred to talk.

Tobias suddenly cocked his head. 〈Ax, turn the TV off.〉

Aximili looked surprised, but did what Tobias had said. 〈What is it?〉

〈There is a helicopter above us. I can hear them.〉 Tobias took off, flying away from the scoop before heading upward. 〈I think they've spotted your scoop, Ax. You guys better bail.〉

〈Should we leave in human or bird form?〉 Aximili asked.

〈You better leave in human morph,〉 Tobias told us. 〈Four birds would look too suspicious. Especially two birds of the same DNA.〉

We morphed to humans, and left Aximili's scoop.

〈I'll meet you back at Cassie's barn,〉 Tobias continued.

We made our way towards Cassie's barn, trying not to attract attention. It didn't work. One of the helicopter's passengers landed in front of us, barring the way.

"Where are you kids going?" asked the big man in front of us.

"To town," Aximili told the man. "I'm afraid we are late, and need to get moving. Excuse us." Aximili started to make his way past the man. Obony and I followed, but the man stepped in front of us.

"Moooving. Moo," I said softly.

"Why were you kids out here?" he demanded.

"We were walking. We enjoy walking. Yes. Yesss," Obony said to the man, who gave her a strange look.

I poked my finger in my nose and wiggled it a bit. The inside of my human nostril itched. "We were just leaving." For some reason the man gave me a stranger look than he had given Obony. I don't know why, I have seen Marco practice this human habit many times.

_**Obony**_

"We were just leaving," I said, after Alanna finished itching her nose. "That is proper. That is what we humans do. Yes."

The man's eyes widened. He looked a bit worried now. "Uh, yeah. Um. Go ahead, then."

Aximili chuckled as the man left. "Marco says these men, who say the words 'um' and 'uh' many times when they are talking to us, are called tourists. Too. Rist-uhs."

Alanna and I nodded wisely. Alanna moved over beside Aximili once more, and he grasped her hand. For some reason a noise of disgust came from me. A snort, I believe. I foraged on ahead of them, wanting to get away from Alanna and Aximili, who gazed at each other as they stumbled over small twigs. To my surprise, as I passed a tall tree, a hawk fluttered down and landed on the path in front of me. "Tobias?"

In reply, the hawk began to become human, its feathers vanishing into flesh, its beak melting back smoothly into a human mouth and nose. Last went the hawk's beautiful red tail, which split in half and melded into Tobias' legs. "Hey. Where are the others?"

"I thought you said you were going to meet us at Cassie's barn-uh," I responded. "And Aximili and Alanna are back there." I gestured with my shoulder.


	15. Chapter 15: Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

So this is all there is…

We were great at writing the beginning but not exactly the end, haha.

Hope you enjoyed it… all you Animorphs fans who may have read it!

And thanks for reading.

Caroline


End file.
